Expected Downer
Although another away shutout did gall the travelling Birds diehards, it was evident that the more experienced among them had known what to expect.
"We have had a great run going, but we were always going to have trouble with these matches." retiree Ang Lo Mun, 67, sighed, bedecked in his usual regalia of football pins. "Pudgy Penguins were always favourites at home." Then he brightened. "We'll show them at The Pot next week!"
Grilled skipper
Tian Yonghang, who had his first goalless outing with the national squad in their two-all draw with Georgia last Friday, offered no excuses. "We were all terrible." he assessed succinctly. "The game was handed to them on a platter."
Bacelar had little more to add, and spent most of the post-match press conference fending off questions about 23 year-old former -= Manchester United =- midfielder Pang Chee Leong, after he admitted to rumours that he had been looking at the 2.FC Karl-Marx-Stadt Number Ten.
"It looked like an attractive deal, for the price." Bacelar said of Pang, who eventually went to Italian Division Five side Fuisca for a shade less than S$2.2 million. "His personal terms wound out to be a stumbling block, unfortunately. We wish him all the best in Italy."
In a round where all the home sides won, BCFC pulled clear after suffering a brief scare against an Isle of Flames in a defiant mood. Ervin Lakatos gave Flames a 3-2 lead on the hour with his strong surge down the middle, then levelled again to give the Flames fans hopes of a draw, but national mainstay Agasthya Vaidhyanathan gave BCFC all three valuable points soon after.
Injury-swamped Shining Lights had three regulars unavailable as their title dreams took a stiff hit against Pearl Divers, no thanks to a 0-3 loss. In a bottom-of-the-table clash, singnet_utd lifted themselves above the flagging United Warrior Team with a stylish 7-2 rampage, their Chinese international star forward Hong Kunqi excelling with a hat-trick.
Amidst the Birds' gloom, Farmer Bunnies enjoyed an exciting 3-2 victory over FC Durian, who had started the day above Bunnies at the top of IV.13. Box-to-box midfielder Sim Jin Shi shrugged off FC Durian's off-the-field financial troubles to drag them level, but Bunnies saviour of the day
Milán Bolgár delivered the winning free-kick with three minutes remaining.
